Lunar Sunrise
by oOInuGirlOo
Summary: When Naruto leaves Konoha for the sake of his friends, where will he find refuge in his time of need? Yes, homosexual pairings.  D  NarutoGaara or NarutoSasuke, undecided. Vote! :
1. Chapter 1

Lunar Sunrise

When Naruto leaves Konoha for the sake of his friends, where will he find refuge in his time of need? Yes, homosexual pairings. D Naruto/Gaara or Naruto/Sasuke, undecided. Vote! (:

As the yellow-haired demon stared at the warm pastels of the rising sun, he slipped away from the cruel realities of the world. He was able to forget, for a time, the names that he was called when they though he couldn't hear them, and the horrible things they said about his comrades. His expression saddened and turned bitter.

'I finally get friends only to have to push them away again…'

He had to; the boy was too kind to let his precious friend's reputations be sullied by people's prejudices against him. Sighing, the blonde blocked all memories of laughter and happy times with his team to concentrate on his mission.

If one peered out from the top of the Hokage tower (as one certain female Hokage was doing at that very moment) you could just barely make out a snatch of vibrant golden hair bobbing through the trees on the outskirts of Konohagakure.

.-.-.

"Mou! Not only is Kakashi late, as always," the pink-headed kunoichi grumbled, "but now the Idiot is oversleeping as well?"

Pacing back and forth, Sakura was effectively pissing off her quiet companion. He wasn't sure which was irritating him more, the pacing, or the insults towards his friend.

"Sakura. Be quiet."

The girl sweat dropped and giggled, offering a meek "Gomen, Sasuke-kun…" as an apology. Kakashi poofed in then, making them choke on a cloud of grey smoke.

"I've got bad news, you two." the copy-nin said gravely, none of the usual humor visible in his eye, "Naruto has run away from home."

Sakura just raised an eyebrow and had a classic, "So where's the punch line?" look on her face. The raven-haired sharingan wielder, however, listened to the news with a bit more solemnity.

"He's…run away?"

"Apparently. I think this note makes it pretty clear as to his intentions."

A piece of parchment fluttered out of the older ninja's grip, and Sasuke had it in his hands in seconds.

_Dear__Gaara, __Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, __Iruka-sensei, __Tsunade-baba, Shizune-neechan, __Ero-sennin, __Konohamaru,__ Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Hinata, Skikamaru, Neji, Bushy Brows, and everyone else in Konoha-_

'Jesus' Sasuke thought, 'if Naruto didn't write this, I don't know who could've.'

_I'm sorry that it's come to this, but I can't think of any other way around it. I'm leaving Konoha. I won't have all of my precious people looked down on and ridiculed because of me. __I'll always be here if you need me, (I won't be far away) but I won't be close enough to cause you trouble. _

_To all of my Rookie friends- I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before, but I am the Kyuubi container. The nine-tailed fox sleeps (for the most part) in my stomach. That's why all of the older villagers despise me; I represent something horrible in their pasts that they'd rather all forget. I'm sorry I had to keep it from you, but I was scared__ you'd all hate me too_

_To my sensei-s- I hope you can all understand why __I'm__ doing this, and respect my wishes enough not to chase after me. (None of you will ever catch me, anyway! Ha-ha! I'm the Great Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!) __Iruka-sensei, I thought of you as my real father, I hope that one day I can see you again and tell you this in person. Oh, and Tsunade-baba? The next time Gaara comes on a mission from Suna, could you inform him? I'm sure he'll be angry with me, don't stand too close to him. I don't want you to get hurt._

_If any of you even need me, carve a message into one of the tree trunks in the edge of the Konoha forest. (Put something so that I know who wrote it, okay?) Please burn this letter after everyone ha__s__ seen it, and spread a rumor through the village that I was killed on a mission. It will make it better for everyone._

_Thank you._

_Uzumaki Naruto_

The dark-haired avenger stared at the words long after he had finished reading the note. His fingers were locked in a death grip around the papers, his mind trying to comprehend the fact that Naruto was _no longer in Konoha._ Well, he'd fix that. Screw what the boy said, and screw what the villagers thought, he was going and bringing the dobe back! As soon as he had reached that conclusion, however, he felt the familiar bite of steel wire slicing lightly into his skin. He was yet again strapped to a stupid tree.

"Fuck, Kakashi!"

The jonin smirked, albeit sadly. "My, my. Such language, Sasuke-kun."

On the outside, the bubblegum-haired girl trained herself to look properly mournful, but on the inside Inner Sakura was doing a victory dance.

_"Alright!__ I get to spend more lovey-dove__y time with Sasuke-kun now! __Cha!"_

"—find him." Sakura only caught the end of her crush's statement. "Huh?"

"I said, I'm going to find him! And bring him back!"

The ash-headed man shook his head slowly. "You're still on probation, You won't be going on any missions for quite a while, especially not an S-rank one."

"S-rank?!" the genins shouted in unison.

"Yes, Godaimehokage-sama has categorized Naruto as a Non-hostile missing nin. A task force of mainly Anbu will be sent, but possibly some of his genin friends will go too."

"Anbu? For Naruto?" Sakura asked, completely ignorant of the blonde boy's awesome strength.

"Even most Anbu can't match him when he gets really hyped up…" the brunette muttered, "We need another jinchuuriki to match him…"

The older ninja then bit his finger, called out "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" and slammed his thumb on the ground to call out his faithful hound Pakkun in a matter of seconds. He then ordered him to relay a message relating to the summoning of the Sand Demon.

.-.-.

Sitting in her office, trying to dodge work as usual, Tsunade rubbed her temples in a futile attempt to relieve the migraine that had been building there since her own personal sun fled from the village. Hearing an insistent scratching at one of her windows, she turned towards the noise, slightly surprised to see the copy-nin's summoned beast waiting for her to let him in. Opening the window, she greeted him with light puzzlement.

"Pakkun?"

He inclined his head towards the Alpha female of the village. "I come bearing a message from Kakashi. He says it's something you'll want to know urgently." She then furrowed her eyebrows, and gestured for him to speak.

"Kakashi says: 'I just thought of something, we know that if Naruto doesn't want to be found, then even Anbu won't find him, but what about another in the same situation as him? Send an urgent summons to Sabaku no Gaara and we may just get our kitsune back after all.'"

The female counterpart of the Three Sannins gasped, and proceeded to run back to her desk, throwing everything else off of it, save a scroll, ink, and a brush. She ran the brush over the paper as fast as she possible could, splattering the black mixture everywhere in her haste. When she was finished, the letter was barely legible, but it would serve its purpose well enough.

"Pakkun, could you please…?"

The inu winked and jumped up, taking the scroll firmly in his mouth.

"It'd hee mah pehsa."

Taking that to mean: "It'd be my pleasure.", Tsunade could sit idle no longer and swiftly jumped out of her window, making a break for the nearest Pachinko parlor.

.-.-.

The shukaku carrier was just returning from a mission when a ninja canine nearly barreled into him, had he not sidestepped he would be covered in sand. And not in a way he wanted.

pantpantpant

He raised a non-existent eyebrow at the dog who was laboring for breath.

pantpantpant

Had the foolish beast not noticed him? He cleared his throat.

pantpantpant

Rolling his eyes, the boy decided to just confront the animal about whatever it needed from him.

"Yes?"

"Gomen, -wheeze- I just ran here all the way from Konoha…-deep breath-…alright, I'm okay now. The Hokage requests your presence immediately in Konoha for an S-rank mission." He presented the scroll that he had dropped upon running into the whole point of his mission.

Gaara looked at the horrendous handwriting on the scroll. "The only words I can make out are 'Konoha', 'Naruto', 'Jinchuuriki', and 'NOW'."

Pakkun shrugged. "Well, that's the gist of the letter, anyway."

The sand ninja debated for a moment and then tossed the scroll back at the dog. "Take this to the Kazekage. I'm going to Konoha."

.-.-.

Okay, this is my first attempt at a gay/shounen-ai ish story, so please let me know what you thought.

The timeline is after Sasuke gets retrieved by Naruto and before Shukaku is removed from Gaara, so I'm not exactly sure when that'd be, but somewhere around there.

Spelling may be off on some of the Naruto terms, lemme know.

Please, feedback is love. :D

ooinuirloo


	2. Chapter 2

Whoa, ehehe, so sorry for the giant lapse in updates! My muse deserted me and I found myself swept up in my Freshman year of school. Loveless should be updated relatively soon too, I'm getting back into it. That said, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everyone:D

.-.-.

Striding confidently into the Hokage's office, Gaara of the Sand glared lucidly at the Legendary Cash Cow.

"Where is Naruto?"

The Sannin then sighed and rubbed at her temples tiredly.

"As far as we know, he is still in Fire Country, perhaps in a nearby village…"

The Jinchuuriki blinked, why would Naruto go to another town? Was he trying to not be found? He is rather noticeable. He voiced his doubts to the Hokage. She replied that Naruto was "a few noodles short of a full bowl of ramen" where stealth or subtlety was concerned. The set of the redhead's mouth became stiffer; he was annoyed on his friend's behalf.

"Naruto is an excellent ninja. He is able to hide and blend in with that garish orange jumpsuit of his. He is also very good at the henge jutsu. He could make himself blend in very easily, don't underestimate him."

Tsunade was taken aback. Gaara was defending Naruto and sounded very miffed at her dismissal of the blond ninja's strength. Well, he sounded as miffed as he possibly could while speaking in a monotone manner. She quickly backpedaled and corrected her faux pas.

"I know how strong Naruto is," she said seriously "he's the one that will be the Rokudaime Hokage, remember?"

Gaara's eyes softened and he almost smiled at the sound of his friend's – Friend? Naruto had been the only one that acknowledged him, who saved him for a life of darkness and hate. If Naruto called the Uchiha (who only ever caused Naruto pain and grief) a friend, then Gaara was certain that Naruto was his friend too. After all, he only tried to kill the blonde once, unlike the avenger. – long standing dream.

"Un. You want me to find him and return him, correct? How would you like me to go about it?"

"Whichever way you feel is most effective."

Nodding briskly, the insomniac made to leave the room before he was stopped by a rather hesitant "Oh, yeah, one more thing, Gaara…" from Tsunade.

Turning, he was presented with a piece of paper with what could only be described as chicken-scratch scrawled across it. Tsunade looked at him with large, sad eyes and put her hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm pat before exiting the room.

After reading the note, the shukaku carrier felt strange, foreign emotions well up within him. Sadness for the pain his friend had to go through, anger at the village that treated him this way, sympathy because he had withstood it too, and, strangest of all, happiness. He was happy that Naruto had cared about him enough to mention him in his letter, _twice_. That was two times the amount that the Uchiha was mentioned. (Wait, he knew that feeling too, jealousy at the Uchiha? How odd…)

'_The next time Gaara comes on a mission from Suna, could you inform him? I'm sure he'll be angry with me,_'

Naruto really understood him. Naruto was, in fact, the _only_ one that understood him. Naruto knew that Gaara would be mad at him for running away, but he went anyway. The Kyuubi vessel was simply too kind, preferring to distance himself rather than hurt his precious people. Gaara let out a sigh, if it was _anyone_ else that suddenly went AWOL, he wouldn't hesitate to tell them 'Sayonara, sucker.' but this was _Naruto_. The number one most unpredictable shinobi had lived up to his name…again. He then strode out of the room, formulating a plan to get his companion back.

.-.-.

Surfacing from oblivion abruptly, the dark haired boy quickly gained his bearings and wasted no time in summoning his _friend_ in the nicest way possible at the given time.

_**"SAKURA!!!!!**__** GET YOUR **__**SORRY**__** ASS IN HERE RIGHT THIS SECOND, OR I SWEAR—" **_

A pink head popped into the room. "That was very rude you know, Sasuke-kun."

"Sakura."

The oblivious girl continued on, ignorant to the death glares her teammate was sending her.

"You really shouldn't call out to a lady like that, Sasuke-kun; they probably won't like it much. Of course, I know what a _condition_ you're in, so I'm not offended by it, don't worry!"

_"Sakura."_

Oh, boy, the Sharingan was spinning now. The girl kept blithering on, however, unaware of her impending doom.

"So how would you like to repay me for nursing you back to health _all night long_, Sasuke-kun?" She batted her sickeningly pink eyelashes in his direction. "I don't ask for much, only a few dates or—"

_**"Sakura."**_

"H-hai, Sasuke-kun?"

"You're not a lady, I don't have a fucking _condition_, I don't care if you're offended, I have nothing to repay you for, and I am never, _never_ **EVER** going on a date with you."

Sakura didn't know how to react. Her crush, her prince, the love of her life had just turned her down! Her! Sakura Haruno! The infamous 'sexy kunoichi'! (Ignoring the fact that she was the only one who referred to herself as that.)

"N-not a lady?"

"No, Sakura, you are a man-beast. Get out of my room. Now."

The bubble-gum headed girl then had an emotional and mental overload and attempted to run from the room, but only succeeded in bashing into the doorframe, spinning out away from the door, and crashing through the window. All of this took place in a span of about 10 seconds. You could then hear a faint "I'm okay!" coming from below the window, but Sasuke really didn't care. Sakura had been eyeing him like a starving man would a hamburger ever since they hit puberty and he figured now was a good time to put a stop to it.

Glancing down at his bound arms and legs, he wondered how much Sakura had been able to do to his drugged, bound, form while he was in a coma-like state, courtesy of the sedatives Sakura had slipped in with his dinner. But before anything else was accomplished, he needed to free himself. Damn, maybe he should have waited for Sakura to untie him before kicking her out.

.-.-.

Deciding to take the path of least resistance, Gaara went about contacting Naruto old-style. Which was, of course, exactly the way the blonde had said to contact him. Appearing on the edge of the forest bordering Konoha, the redhead slipped the crumpled paper out of his pocket and re-read it.

_"If any of you ever need me, carve a message into one of the tree trunks in the edge of the Konoha forest."_

The jinchuuriki stood in front of the largest tree on the tree line. Channeling his sand into a fine point, he etched his message into the tree.

_'Why has the fox run from the valley of the leaves? The slug princess is chasing you. __The avenging hawk circles the valley, waiting for his opportunity to chase as well. __Meet me on top of the third old man's head when the night is at its peak.'_

He then engraved one more thing below his words, the kanji that sat upon his forehead. Naruto would know immediately who was asking to speak with him and he would come. He would come because he cares about his fellow demon-carrier. He _can't_ ignore a summoning, not from one of his precious people. Gaara then went back to the village to await his friend.

.-.-.

After finally escaping the clutches of the hospital bed from hell, Sasuke ran straight to the Hokage Towers. Arriving panting at the top of the many, many stairs, he dragged himself over to the ANBU officers standing guard outside her doors.

"I…need…to see…the Hokage…"

Even through the masks, the raven could feel their condescending gazes.

"So sorry, _Master_ _Uchiha_, Tsunade-sama is otherwise occupied at the moment."

The gasping boy then smirked and stuck his tongue out. While the clone Sasuke had been distracting the guards, the real one was sneaking into the office via the window. Hopping from the ledge he had been perched upon, the avenger walked purposefully towards the leader of their village.

"I need to go get Naruto."

Turning from whatever papers she had been signing, (per Shizune's insistence) Tsunade glanced at her intruder.

"I already have someone looking for him."

The sharingan wielder nearly growled. No one could find and subdue Naruto but _him_!

"They won't be able to do it. Send me to go find him. I'm the only one that can beat him!"

The gambler raised her eyebrow skeptically. "I seem to recall Naruto kicking your ass in every fight you've had for about 2 years now."

Sasuke winced at the giant blow to his ego. It was true, though. He, the tensai, hadn't won a fight against Naruto in 2 years. Clenching his fists, he punched the wall in frustration.

"Furthermore," the woman continued, "you're still on probation. Not to mention the stupidity of sending you out after him in the first place. Imagine if somehow, you got hurt in your quest to find him, Naruto would sacrifice his life to protect you, now that you're weaker than him. He is no longer sure that you can hold your own in a battle with opponents of his caliber. He will then worry excessively and try to protect you, thus endangering himself."

Ouch. Weaker than the Dobe? No, he really shouldn't think of Naruto as 'dobe' anymore, not now that he had surpassed the 'tensai'. He understood what the woman was saying, but he couldn't rest until he knew exactly who it was that she had sent after his teammate.

"Well then who _is_ qualified to search for Naruto?"

Tsunade hesitated for a moment before replying: "Sabaku no Gaara."

.-.-.

The moon was high in the sky and Gaara stood under it, waiting for his errant companion. Suddenly he saw a flash of yellow obstruct the moon and become larger as it came back down to earth. When the figure had landed lightly on the ground, Gaara greeted him.

"Naruto."

Those unforgettable sky-blue eyes looked at him with a mixture of apprehension and happiness.

"Gaara! How have you been?"

The sand nin gave a small smile that was used only when dealing with Naruto. "Reasonably well, my village is still wary of me, but recognizes my talents and doesn't hate me quite as much anymore. They're giving me more missions that are up to my standards."

"That's great, Gaara! I'm so happy for you!" The sapphire eyes twinkled. "But, why are you here? You saw my note, obviously."

"Naruto, I came to this village on a mission. I was hoping to see my friend, but was then told that he died. The man that told me that is probably still in the hospital, actually…" The shinobi trailed off, remembering what had happened when he came into Konoha and asked to see Naruto.

.-.(flashback).-.

After that odd summons from the Hokage, Gaara decided to check in with the blonde before reporting in. He stopped a passerby, knowing full well that any person on the street would immediately recognize the light-haired ball of energy.

"Where is Naruto?"

Okay, so maybe the abrupt, brusque way he asked hadn't helped, but the guy was still asking for it with his response.

"That disgusting little monster? He finally went and got himself killed on a mission! Good Riddance!"

Needless to say, that man is lucky he is still breathing. Before any more damage could be dealt, however, two ANBU showed up and escorted him to Tsunade's office.

.-.(end flashback).-.

Gaara shook himself out of his memories and continued talking. "Anyway, then the Hokage took me aside and showed me your note. Why did you leave, Naruto?"

The exuberant boy then sighed and reiterated his reasons to Gaara.

"They've been looking at me so hostilely lately, Gaara! But it wasn't just me, it was my friends too! Sakura and Sasuke, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Neji, Hinata, Konohamaru, Chouji, Ino, and even Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Ero-sennin and Tsunade no baa-chan too! I know they can all take care of themselves, but…" He lowered his voice to a whisper and his gorgeous blue eyes filled with such pain, it was hard for Gaara to resist the urge to wrap his arms around the other boy.

"I don't want them to be hated like me. I don't want them to suffer because of me. I can't do that to them! They stood by me when no one else would, I will not repay them by letting them be despised by the whole village! I won't let them be like me, like you! No one needs to suffer like we did."

At that moment, Gaara did something he had never done before. He cried. Salty liquid dripped silently down his face as he stared at the boy before him. He then crossed the three feet of space separating them and wrapped his arms around the other boy.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." And that was all they needed.

.-.-.

Yay, angst _and_ fluff all in the same chapter! I'm still not sure about the whole Gaara/Naruto vs Naruto/Sasuke. Hmmmm….decisions, decisions. Please vote! ;D

But don't worry, there shall be a bit of both pairings before I decide which one it's actually going to be.

This chapter was nice and long for you, so rejoice! And review! Reviews make me write more! (And if I love you, I might POSSIBLY write you something…MAYBE!)

Well, love to all!

ooinugirloo


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